My only issue with the video, which I think is great, is that he doesn't seem to look at what is actually causing the problem he's trying to solve.
To my eyes the problem this video seems to want to solve is that of unpleasant work places. That’s the point he’s making in that there are a lot of unhappy people out there and a big reason they’re unhappy is because we’ve been incentivizing them in the wrong way (through monetary means as opposed to mastery and autonomy).
But we all know that. It’s in our very human nature. You can’t tell me the problem with Corporate America is that people don’t know their employees want to be self directed. So illuminating that fact doesn't fix the problem.
Fixing the problem requires asking "Why aren't people given autonomy and the opportunity to further master their skills?"
In my opinion the answer to that is another part of our human nature which is the need for power. Since the beginning of time there have been people who have wanted to have power over other people. That tendency has been dominant in human evolution from the Kings of Old to the Senior VPs of today.
But that component of human nature is opposed to the values of personal mastery and autonomy. Someone who loves power wants to control those under them and doesn’t want to risk being replaced so they take away autonomy and inhibit mastery for those underneath them.
Fixing that is the actual problem (and I’ll be the first to admit I don’t have a solution short of abolishing management completely)
Comments
My only issue with the video, which I think is great, is that he doesn't seem to look at what is actually causing the problem he's trying to solve.
To my eyes the problem this video seems to want to solve is that of unpleasant work places. That’s the point he’s making in that there are a lot of unhappy people out there and a big reason they’re unhappy is because we’ve been incentivizing them in the wrong way (through monetary means as opposed to mastery and autonomy).
But we all know that. It’s in our very human nature. You can’t tell me the problem with Corporate America is that people don’t know their employees want to be self directed. So illuminating that fact doesn't fix the problem.
Fixing the problem requires asking "Why aren't people given autonomy and the opportunity to further master their skills?"
In my opinion the answer to that is another part of our human nature which is the need for power. Since the beginning of time there have been people who have wanted to have power over other people. That tendency has been dominant in human evolution from the Kings of Old to the Senior VPs of today.
But that component of human nature is opposed to the values of personal mastery and autonomy. Someone who loves power wants to control those under them and doesn’t want to risk being replaced so they take away autonomy and inhibit mastery for those underneath them.
Fixing that is the actual problem (and I’ll be the first to admit I don’t have a solution short of abolishing management completely)
There are 10+ HN submissions of this by now, here are ones with comments to check out:
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=782171
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1357390
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1439939
Good point. Lot's a great comments on those. Sorry about the repost, I haven't been checking HN as often lately and missed those.
The source of the video: http://www.thersa.org/events/vision/vision-videos/dan-pink-d...
Has anyone read the book? I would love to hear some people's opinions before I decide to buy. Thanks